A New 30-Day Challenge

Today I have made a decision that I will try really hard to stick with.

I want to reduce my carbohydrate and gluten intake.

On Thursday night I went to a potluck at my church and sat next to a friend of mine who is gluten-intolerant. I'm not sure if she has Celiac's, exactly, but she brought gluten-free cookies so that she could eat something yummy for dessert. Her peanut butter cocoa oatmeal cookies, by the way, were my favorite thing at the potluck. I asked her why she went gluten free and she said that she had originally given up carbs to lose weight. Then, after reaching her goal weight, she started reintroducing carbs into her diet. Instead of enjoying what she was eating, she felt terrible. The symptom that stuck in my brain was joint pain - she said her joints were killing her, something that had never happened to her before. So she did some research, decided to cut out gluten and felt better. That got me thinking.

Some time ago, I started to draw patterns between white bread and headaches. I typically eat whole wheat bread, but if I eat a lot of white bread - like hamburger buns, pizza dough, white toast, etc - I would get headaches more frequently. I thought it may have something to do with the refined wheat and high sugar content. So I started to be more mindful and have far fewer headaches.

Since moving to New Orleans, I really don't eat bread often. I don't buy loaves of bread and actually enjoy making my own. But, when I'm out and about, I eat po'boys on white bread, sandwiches on white foccacia or buns, and other white bread products. When I'm at the office or church, my main weakness is cookies. I love cookies.

And yet when I eat them, especially in the middle of the day, I feel sluggish and my head gets cloudy. So sometimes I pop one of my migraine pills, which does make my head feel better. But what would happen if I just didn't eat the cookies in the first place? Would I still feel that way? And if I did, what would my body really be needing?

All these questions are making my head buzz, so what I need to do is simple. Make a conscious effort to stop eating bread, cookies, and pasta. It's going to be very hard but I've heard that it takes between 21 and 30 days to create a habit. I just have to remember how I feel now (achey, tired, terrible) and hope that I'll feel better without wheat.

Besides, these are the things I really can't live without:

- tea
- homemade yogurt
- chocolate
- fresh fruit
- tomatoes
- fresh vegetables

I can live without cookies.